1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image coding apparatus and image coding method, image decoding apparatus, recording medium and image processing apparatus and image transmitting method, and more particularly relates to the image coding apparatus and image coding method, image decoding apparatus, recording medium and image processing apparatus and image transmitting method capable of thinning-out (subsampling) and compression encoding an image in such a manner that a decoded image is almost identical to a source image.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, various methods have been proposed as methods for compressing images, with one of these methods being a method of compressing an image by thinning-out the number of pixels of the image.
However, when an image compressed by this kind of thinning-out is simply expanded by interpolation, the resolution of the resulting decoded image is poor.
There are at least two reasons for this kind of deterioration in the resolution of the decoded image. One reason is that high frequency components included in the original image are not included in the thinned-out image. A second reason is that the pixel values of pixels comprising the image after thinning-out are not particularly suitable for decoding the original image. Accordingly, it would be desirable to provide methods and apparatus which resolves these problems.